Albert Glinsky (born December 9, 1952) is an American composer and author. His music has been performed internationally by soloists, ensembles, and dance companies. His book, Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage won the 2001 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, and is regarded as the standard work on the life of Leon Theremin. In 2009 Glinsky was invited by the family of synthesizer pioneer, Bob Moog (who wrote the foreword to Glinsky's Theremin), to create Moog's biography. Switched On: Bob Moog and the Synthesizer Revolution, with a Foreword by Francis Ford Coppola, was released by Oxford University Press on September 23, 2022.
Life Glinsky is the son of American sculptors, Cleo Hartwig and Vincent Glinsky. He grew up in Greenwich Village, attended the High School of Music and Art (now the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School), and studied composition with Joan Tower and Otto Luening. He received his bachelor and master of music degrees in composition from the Juilliard School where his principal teacher was David Diamond. He earned his Ph.D. in composition from New York University, specializing in electroacoustic music. Glinsky has served on the faculty of Montclair State University, was BMI Composer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University, and is currently Professor Emeritus and Director of the Composition program at Mercyhurst University in Pennsylvania. He is married to harpsichordist/pianist Linda Kobler. They have two children, son, Luka Glinsky, and daughter, Allegra Glinsky.
Musical works Glinsky's music has been recorded on the RCA Red Seal, Koch International Classics, Centaur, BMG Catalyst, and Leonore labels. His work is published by C.F. Peters, E.C. Schirmer, Hinshaw Press, and American Composers Edition.
Since his earliest student days at Juilliard, Glinsky forged a style based on the melding of contemporary popular musics with classical traditions—one of the first composers to cross-pollinate such radically different musical styles. The American writer and music critic, Tim Page observed that, "Glinsky's work is generated by American popular music, and is cast in a traditional framework of gesture and form."Page, Tim. CD liner notes, Fratres, RCA Red Seal, 1993. The first piece to fully incorporate this idea was the Rhapsody for Solo Violin, Flute, Strings, and Timpani (1971-1974), described variously by critics as evoking, "the hoedown sound of Kentucky bluegrass," Hanson, Twink, Variety Spices Joffrey Show, The Daily News, Rhinelander, WI, January 28, 1982 and employing, "pentatonic, a dash of Blues, Country, pop and quartal harmonies...skillfully and organically mixed."Zürcher Konzerte; Gemässigte Moderne, Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich, November 23, 1981The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that the Rhapsody, "effectively translates…'folk-rock music and other popular musics' into an orchestral format."Keuffel, Ken, Soloist plays harp works, The Philadelphia Inquirer June 6, 1995
In a similar vein, the composer's piano Elegy (1976) was noted by The Washington Post as "a rhapsodic, syncopated classical jazz ballad that is splendidly crafted."Tuck, Lon, Tibor Szasz's Pianistic Pizazz at the Terrace, The Washington Post, October 5, 1982 Allan Kozinn, writing in The New York Times, termed the Elegy, "…a beautifully wrought fantasy, in which diverse influences (from Debussy to Cecil Taylor, with a touch of Rachmaninoff) show through but never dominate. Its central section is full of fascinating and unpredictable harmonic turns."Kozinn, Allan, Neil Rutman in Schubert and Mozart, The New York Times, September 18, 1988 Another early work to make significant use of pop idioms was the Mass for Children's Voices (1978), a piece which the composer stated, "is set in a contemporary folk/rock style, yet at the same time has traditional overtones of chorale writing and unison chant."Glinsky, Albert, program notes for world premiere with Boys Choir of Harlem, Church of the Intercession, October 18, 1981
American Record Guide remarked on Glinsky's success in combining disparate styles in Sunbow (1983), which "reflects the world of unmeasured preludes beloved by his wife, Linda Kobler (the harpsichordist for whom the work was written) and his own zest for rock music (he cites Stevie Wonder as the inspiration . . .) Believe it or not, the combination works and the results are a lot more sophisticated than you'd think."Haskins, Rob, Overture to Orpheus, American Record Guide, May/June 2002Bedford, Frances, Harpsichord and Clavichord Music of the Twentieth Century, Fallen Leaf Press, 1993 Glinsky's blending of pop and classical influences has also been noted in Toccata-Scherzo (1988), defined by American critic Alex Ross as "an encore-like showpiece driven by a pop pulse."Ross, Alex, Fanfare magazine, November/December 1993 Similarly, Glinsky's Piano Concerto (1993) was characterized as "a modern classical work heavily influenced by contemporary pop and rock music. The synthesis of styles—a Glinsky trademark—provides not only an overall, idiomatic effect but specific musical nuggets—points of inspiration drawn from contemporary performers such as folk rocker Suzanne Vega... or British concept rocker Kate Bush."Baker, Ruth Ann, Albert Glinsky's Second Chance, Erie Daily Times, April 15, 1993
Glinsky's Canandaigua Quartet (1996), which opens the Oregon String Quartet's CD, All That Jazz; Jazz and Rock Influences in the Contemporary American String Quartet, prompted the Journal of the Society for American Music to comment: "If we may indeed interpret this recording as a melding of two worlds, this selection is a perfect one with which to raise the curtain." The review likened portions of the first movement to "a back-beat rhythm in a rock band," while the last movement, "Spin Out", was noted for "especially interesting ponticello, tremolo, and glissando effects that simulate an electric guitar or synthesizer."Bullard, Julia, The Oregon String Quartet: And All That Jazz: Jazz and Rock Influences in the Contemporary American String Quartet, Journal of the Society for American Music, November 2011, volume 5/Issue 04, pgs. 569-571 Fanfare magazine remarked on the "folk elements in the already heady jazz and rock mix."Clarke, Colin, And All That Jazz, Fanfare magazine, July/August 2007
Another compositional area Glinsky has explored is electronic music, prompted by the work he did at the New York University studios in the mid-1980s with a variety of digital and analog synthesizers including the alphaSyntauri, Voyetra-8, Serge, Buchla, Moog, McLeyvier, Aries, Yamaha DX7, and the Fairlight CMI. His interest in 'art rock' artists, some of whom were using these instruments on their albums, sparked a series of short compositions created entirely in the studio. The composer's 1995 piece on the subject of homelessness, Day Walker, Night Wanderer, is a 45-minute dramatic work for chamber ensemble, solo vocalist, and an electronic score. It was commissioned for the Philadelphia-based new music ensemble, Relâche, which created the premiere. In his program notes for the first performance, Glinsky wrote, "Stylistically, the work draws upon many resources: the integration of rock and jazz elements which characterize my work as a whole; an interest in electronic sound collage from my days at the electronic music studios of New York University; and a long standing fascination with the music of such 'concept rockers' as Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel. In short, I have attempted to join together 'art song' and 'art rock' in an amalgam which draws the deeper levels of psychological exploration from the one, and weds it to the spontaneity and directness of the other."Glinsky, Albert, quoted in the program notes to the world premiere performance of Day Walker, Night Wanderer, Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA, March 10, 1995.
Among Glinsky's recent works are his Allegheny Quartet (2009), commissioned for the 250th Anniversary of the city of Pittsburgh—described by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review as "an immediately appealing work," incorporating "the very effective setting of Native American, French and English folk tunes,"Kanny, Mark, "Bridges Festival: Biava Quartet." Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 2, 2009. and his Sun Chanter (2013), commissioned for the 100th Anniversary of the Erie Philharmonic—a piece which, according to the composer, integrates influences of musical theater into the harmonic language.Program Notes, Erie Philharmonic concert program, November 9, 2013.
Albert Glinsky's works have been heard throughout the U.S., Europe, and the Far East in such venues as Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, the Aspen Music Festival, Wolf Trap, Tokyo's Suntory Hall, and the Salle Cortot in Paris. His works have been commissioned, performed, and recorded by such organizations as the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Cavani String Quartet, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Relache, the Boys Choir of Harlem, the Erie Philharmonic, the Westmoreland Symphony, the Oregon and Biava String Quartets, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, and by pianists Greg Anderson, Neil Rutman, Tibor Szasz, and Leslie Spotz, violinist Maria Bachmann, and conductors Walter Hendl, Eiji Oue, Edmond de Stoutz, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, and Daniel Meyer, among others. Glinsky's music is frequently choreographed, and has been presented by the Joffrey II Company (three-season international tour), Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Marin Ballet, Lexington Ballet, Wilkes Barre Ballet, and at universities across the U.S. He has been granted awards and honors from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Hinrichsen Award), the Jerome Foundation, the Astral Foundation, Meet the Composer (now New Music USA), the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York State CAPS Fellowship program. Glinsky received two awards from the Alienor International Harpsichord Competition (1986, 2004), and was a Ucross Foundation Resident Artist in Wyoming. He is a member of the American Composers Alliance.
Recognized by The American Academy of Arts and Letters, Glinsky's Hinrichsen Award citation calls his music, "vibrantly American in rhythm, accent, and in its soaring lyricism."Written statement from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in connection with Albert Glinsky's receipt of the 1998 Walter Hinrichsen Award. Summing up Glinsky's work, the American conductor, Walter Hendl wrote in 1994, "I consider Albert Glinsky to be one of the finest young American Composers. . . . I performed the world premiere of his symphonic poem, 'Throne of the Third Heaven' in 1989. I have heard and seen the score of his piano concerto, and consider it to be a major contribution to the concerto literature. In my estimation, it compares most favorably with the Samuel Barber piano concerto."Walter Hendl letter, January 31, 1994. Glinsky's Throne of the Third Heaven is referenced in the book, Weird Virginia, which includes a section on the visionary sculpture of the same name, created by James Hampton, that inspired the composer's orchestral work.Bahr, Jeff and Troy Taylor and Loren Coleman, Weird Virginia, Sterling Publishing Company, 2007.
Books